Donald Trump hints at restrictions against European immigrants

President-elect Donald Trump has suggested that his administration may tighten immigration restrictions against European nations.

Trump reiterated plans to implement his idea of “extreme vetting” against members of the Muslim world. When asked if he would impose similar restrictions on Europe, the President-elect was noncommittal.

The interview was conducted on Friday by Bild and the Times of London. Michael Gove, one of the former leaders of UK’s Brexit campaign, which Trump often praised during the election season, conducted the interview for The Times.

When asked why he thought the Brexit campaign was successful, Trump said loose borders and concerns over the effects of immigration played a large part.

“We don’t want people from Syria to come to us when we don’t know who they are,” Trump said, pledging immediate action to tighten American border controls.

Trump also argued that the Obama administration didn’t act quickly enough to stop the catastrophic effects of the Syrian civil war.

“It’s a very bad thing, we had a chance to do something when we had the line in the sand and… nothing happened. That was the only time. And now, it’s sort of very late. It’s too late,” he said. “But Aleppo was nasty. I mean when you see them shooting old ladies walking out of town — they can’t even walk and they’re shooting ’em — it almost looks like they’re shooting ’em for sport. Ah no, that’s… a terrible situation.”

Trump then claimed that German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to accept more than one million Syrian refugees has been a “big mistake.”

When asked if he trusted Vladimir Putin or Angela Merkel more, he said, “I start off trusting both, but let see how long that lasts. May not last long at all.”